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Every second Saturday of the month, 4 pm - Divine Liturgy in English of Sunday - Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family, Duke Street, London W1K 5BQ. Followed by refreshments.Next Liturgy: Saturday 14th April - 3pm Great Vespers, 4pm Divine Liturgy for Sunday after Pascha (Pascha is on 8th April)

Saturday, 14 December 2013

Egypt’s new draft constitution, to be voted on in a national referendum in January, is being hailed for its improvements over the 2012 Islamist-backed constitution. But the new constitution still has a number of shortcomings regarding religious and personal freedoms, according to concerned Egyptian Christians and human rights groups.

Meawad said the draft constitution is an improvement over the Muslim Brotherhood constitution of 2012, particularly with elimination of Article 219, which defined aspects of Sharia law on which legislation could be based. Article 219 and other features of the 2012 constitution led many liberal and Christian leaders to boycott the Muslim Brotherhood government, eventually culminating in popular protests and the military’s ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

The new draft, by removing Article 219, eliminates the political authority that Al-Azhar University, Egypt’s highest Islamic institution, had over the legislative process.

“The new draft maintains the position of Sharia in social conscience, but prevents any infringements on constitutional jurisdiction,” Adel Ramadan, legal affairs official at local NGO Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, told Ahram Online.

Nevertheless, controversial aspects still remain in the draft constitution, including Article 2, which states that the principles of Islamic Sharia are “the main source of legislation.”

Pray for the Unity of the Apostolic Churches

The Society of St John Chrysostom promotes greater appreciation of the spiritual, theological and liturgical traditions of Eastern Christendom, works and prays for the unity of the Churches of East and West, and encourages support for the Eastern Churches :

- the Byzantine and Oriental Catholic Churches in communion with the Apostolic See of Rome (especially in their contemporary calling to promote reconciliation and the recovery of union between Catholics and Orthodox)- the Orthodox Church- the Oriental Orthodox Churches and- the Church of the East.

In the United Kingdom and Europe the Society, founded in 1926, is a group of Catholics of the Latin and Eastern Churches, along with our friends in other traditions, promoting awareness and friendship in the Christian West for our fellow Christians of the East - through prayer and liturgy, conferences and lectures, pilgrimage and ecumenical encounters.